SARASOTA, Fla. -- Alex Cobb has seen better days. The right-hander's spring debut against the Rays in Friday's 10-5 loss lasted less than an inning.

Cobb had trouble from the outset, walking leadoff hitter Austin Meadows on four pitches, all very much around the plate.

"I felt like some of those balls were over the plate," said Cobb, who then gave up a bloop single and was suddenly in a jam. "Then I got a couple of ground balls that I was trying to get and they found holes."

Cobb faced just six batters, allowed four runs on a walk and three hits, including a two-run homer to Guillermo Heredia after getting ahead in the count 0-2.

"It was probably a poor decision to go with the pitch that I went with," Cobb said. "I was trying to execute a good pitch right there, a changeup down, and I left it up a little bit."

That ended Cobb’s 23-pitch (12 of which were strikes) start, a surprisingly low number of pitches, even for the first outing of the spring.

"I think [Orioles manager Brandon Hyde] was trying to protect what was going on out there for me," Cobb said. "I obviously unraveled a little bit. I was expecting to stay out there and get an up/down, but I went down to the bullpen afterwards and finished up. The plan was to go two [innings], but the outing wasn’t going according to plan, so I guess they called an audible on it."

Cobb said that he felt fine physically, and he threw 15 additional pitches in the bullpen after departing the mound. It was a somewhat surprising performance, given the momentum Cobb had built up at the end of last season and carried over into Spring Training.

"First time out on the big field, I just didn’t want to extend him, stretch it any further than it went," Hyde said.

"This whole camp, I have just felt so good," Cobb added. "My bullpen before this game, I could do whatever I wanted to do with the ball. It didn’t translate out on the mound, which is frustrating because you want to see it in a game and show up against competition.

"I have so many positives from what I’ve been doing [this spring]," Cobb added. "I think the goal is to not let just the stat line ruin the momentum you’ve got going early in spring. I have plenty of things to dwell on that are good; just don’t let the negative things creep in and take over."

Signed as a free agent on March 21, 2018, Cobb made his Orioles debut on April 14 at Boston. In 28 starts, Cobb posted a 5-15 record with a 4.90 ERA over 152 1/3 innings. The 28 starts were the second most in his seven-year Major League career, behind the 29 he made with Tampa Bay in 2017. He totaled 15 quality starts last season for the O's, tied for the team lead with Dylan Bundy, and he was also third on the team with 102 strikeouts.